Young Programs Square off in Missouri

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team will look to rebound
after dropping two games in a disappointing series versus in-state opponent
Robert Morris last weekend when they start at six game road trip at Lindenwood
this weekend.

The Nittany Lions (4-7-1) dropped two games against the Colonials last weekend,
being outscored 11-2 on the scoreboard. Penn State head coach Josh Brandwene
stated that despite the discrepancy on the scoreboard, the Lions learned many
valuable lessons over the weekend and the program took a step forward as a
whole.

In the second and third periods of Sunday's game against Robert Morris, the
Nittany Lions displayed an intensity and fight that they had lacked in a lot of
their games this season. Brandwene said the team's attitude and belief in
themselves was a result of playing the game rather than playing against the
scoreboard. The Lions will look to keep that mentality as they hit the road to
take on fellow Division I and College Hockey America newcomer, the Lions of
Lindenwood (0-10-0).

Much like the Blue and White, Lindenwood (0-10-0) is learning the ins and outs of CHA
hockey week by week, with each weekend presenting a new team challenge and
program firsts. Penn State, however, should not overlook the Lions as they have
played many formidable opponents, including No. 5 Mercyhurst College, No. 6
Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Junior forward and team captain Taylor Gross believes her team can't focus in
on Lindenwood's record because it doesn't provide an accurate measure of the
team's skill.

"Lindenwood is a good team," said Gross. "If you look at who they've played, they've played a lot of good competition and we can't overlook anybody. They
have a really good goaltender and overall they have a good team and we can't
look past them."

While the Nittany Lions will try not to overlook Lindenwood, they will also
attempt to keep that same mentality and focus they displayed late in the second
game against Robert Morris. The Blue and White have had a week of practice to
fine tune things before heading to Missouri for the two game series.

One unit that stepped up in the second game versus Robert Morris is the
defense, shutting down the Colonials in the final two periods and limiting them
to the lone empty net goal with under a minute remaining in the game. The Penn
State defense could possibly gain more momentum this weekend as Lindenwood has
only managed to score nine goals so far this season, due in large part to its
tough schedule. Nonetheless, it still provides an opportunity for the Blue and
White defense to continue to grow and make progress.

So far this season, the anchor of the Penn State defense has been junior
goaltender Nicole Paniccia and she is responsible for a lot of the team's
success, remaining solid between the pipes. Paniccia believes that the young
defensive lines in front of her made a leap forward this past weekend against
Robert Morris and they will continue to grow with each game.

"You know our defense is [mostly] freshmen," said Paniccia, "so every game that
they play they're learning. Every practice they're learning and they're getting
used to NCAA play and its starting to show on the ice. They are doing really
well."

The defense for the Nittany Lions showed promise in the last two periods last
weekend and as Paniccia said the defense is very young. With every game comes a
new learning experience for the Blue and White and Lindenwood will be no
exception. The two young programs make for an intriguing matchup this weekend
and for years to come as CHA competitors. enn State will face-off in the first of two games with Lindenwood this Friday
night at 8 p.m. EST.